March Against Monsanto Valparaiso

On Saturday, October 12, 2013 about 100 people gathered outside the Porter County Courthouse to “March Against Monsanto”. Whitney Hibbitts was the local organizer and George Smolka addressed the crowd. Below is text from his initial prepared statement:

Dearly beloved we are gathered here to find a way to screw Monsanto. The espoused purpose is to raise awareness about Genetically Modified Organisms and to generate a groundswell, state by state to force the implementation of laws requiring the labeling of all products containing GMO’s so that the American people will have an intelligent choice as to which poisons to feed their families. A noble objective. After all, I want only the best poisons, that money can buy, for my family.

George Smolka. Photo courtesy of Virginia Alvarez.

The Gorilla in the closet is Monsanto, they oppose labeling. They want no restrictions on the use, distribution, consumption, growing, or application of GMO products anywhere. Not just in the U.S., but anywhere in the world. To achieve this aim they have bribed, corrupted, intimidated, pressured, threatened, and worse; politicians, companies, private citizens, whole governments, organizations and (“Prop 37” in more.) They have done their best to suppress, delay, and obfuscate, information that shows that many of their GMO’s are hazardous to the health and well being of people, lead to a reduction in business, the bankrupting of small and medium sized enterprise (Hans Rudolf Herren) and eventually achieve the exact opposite of their supposed, intended aim of reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides.

The mechanisms for these effects have been well documented and published, since the early 90’s, but are unknown to most Americans. Unfortunately, most humans listen to people who tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear, and ignore all others.

Monsanto sells the lion’s share of GMO agricultural seeds in the whole world. And tells the lion’s share of the lies about GMO’s, in the whole world. If you don’t know, they attach restrictive contracts to the use of these seeds and penalize farmers who try to get around the restrictions…world wide. Monsanto has caused the death of thousands of small family farmers in Indiana.

Like the global abuse of antibiotics has caused the creation of monster microbes, the mere use of GMO’s will eventually lead to a world wide food crisis. Yes, even in this country. Does this interest you? Want to hear more? Do you have counter arguments to what I have just said? Join us on the March and come back to hear more, and share your views on this ever growing problem.

The crowd then marched around the square, west down Lincolnway, south on Lafayette through the Valparaiso Farmer’s Market. Most marchers returned to the square to hear the rest of Smolka’s more detailed talk.

Check back soon for a video of Smolka’s address to the crowd–it should be ready within the next 24 hours. Smolka referenced several of the following articles during his talk and has made them available for download here: